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1"Well, of course," replied Mr. Briggs, "it is very proper that every person should have rest, and be able to go to
2church on Sundays, but I should have thought you would not have minded such a short distance for the horse, and only
3once a day; you would have all the afternoon and evening for yourself, and we are very good customers, you know." "Yes,
4sir, that is true, and I am grateful for all favors, I am sure; and anything that I could do to oblige you, or the lady,
5I should be proud and happy to do; but I can't give up my Sundays, sir, indeed I can't. I read that God made man, and he
6made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them He made a day of rest, and bade that all should
7rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was good for them, and I am sure it is good for me; I
8am stronger and healthier altogether, now that I have a day of rest; the horses are fresh too, and do not wear up nearly
9so fast. The six-day drivers all tell me the same, and I have laid by more money in the savings bank than ever I did
10before; and as for the wife and children, sir, why, heart alive! they would not go back to the seven days for all they
11could see." "Oh, very well," said the gentleman. "Don't trouble yourself, Mr. Barker, any further. I will inquire
12somewhere else," and he walked away. "Well," says Jerry to me, "we can't help it, Jack, old boy; we must have our
13Sundays." "Polly!" he shouted, "Polly! come here." She was there in a minute. "What is it all about, Jerry?" "Why, my
14dear, Mr. Briggs wants me to take Mrs. Briggs to church every Sunday morning. I say I have only a six-days' license. He
15says, 'Get a seven-days' license, and I'll make it worth your while;' and you know, Polly, they are very good customers
16to us. Mrs. Briggs often goes out shopping for hours, or making calls, and then she pays down fair and honorable like a
17lady; there's no beating down or making three hours into two hours and a half, as some folks do; and it is easy work for
18the horses; not like tearing along to catch trains for people that are always a quarter of an hour too late; and if I
19don't oblige her in this matter it is very likely we shall lose them altogether. What do you say, little woman?" "I say,
20Jerry," says she, speaking very slowly, "I say, if Mrs. Briggs would give you a sovereign every Sunday morning, I would
21not have you a seven-days' cabman again. We have known what it was to have no Sundays, and now we know what it is to
22call them our own. Thank God, you earn enough to keep us, though it is sometimes close work to pay for all the oats and
23hay, the license, and the rent besides; but Harry will soon be earning something, and I would rather struggle on harder
24than we do than go back to those horrid times when you hardly had a minute to look at your own children, and we never
25could go to a place of worship together, or have a happy, quiet day. God forbid that we should ever turn back to those
26times; that's what I say, Jerry." "And that is just what I told Mr. Briggs, my dear," said Jerry, "and what I mean to
27stick to. So don't go and fret yourself, Polly" (for she had begun to cry); "I would not go back to the old times if I
28earned twice as much, so that is settled, little woman. Now, cheer up, and I'll be off to the stand." Three weeks had
29passed away after this conversation, and no order had come from Mrs. Briggs; so there was nothing but taking jobs from
30the stand. Jerry took it to heart a good deal, for of course the work was harder for horse and man. But Polly would
31always cheer him up, and say, "Never mind, father, never, mind. "'Do your best, And leave the rest, 'Twill all come
32right Some day or night.'" It soon became known that Jerry had lost his best customer, and for what reason. Most of the
33men said he was a fool, but two or three took his part. "If workingmen don't stick to their Sunday," said Truman,
34"they'll soon have none left; it is every man's right and every beast's right. By God's law we have a day of rest, and
35by the law of England we have a day of rest; and I say we ought to hold to the rights these laws give us and keep them
36for our children." "All very well for you religious chaps to talk so," said Larry; "but I'll turn a shilling when I can.
37I don't believe in religion, for I don't see that your religious people are any better than the rest." "If they are not
38better," put in Jerry, "it is because they are not religious. You might as well say that our country's laws are not good
39because some people break them. If a man gives way to his temper, and speaks evil of his neighbor, and does not pay his
40debts, he is not religious, I don't care how much he goes to church. If some men are shams and humbugs, that does not
41make religion untrue. Real religion is the best and truest thing in the world, and the only thing that can make a man
42really happy or make the world we live in any better." "If religion was good for anything," said Jones, "it would
43prevent your religious people from making us work on Sundays, as you know many of them do, and that's why I say religion
44is nothing but a sham; why, if it was not for the church and chapel-goers it would be hardly worth while our coming out
45on a Sunday. But they have their privileges, as they call them, and I go without. I shall expect them to answer for my
46soul, if I can't get a chance of saving it." Several of the men applauded this, till Jerry said: "That may sound well
47enough, but it won't do; every man must look after his own soul; you can't lay it down at another man's door like a
48foundling and expect him to take care of it; and don't you see, if you are always sitting on your box waiting for a
49fare, they will say, 'If we don't take him some one else will, and he does not look for any Sunday.' Of course, they
50don't go to the bottom of it, or they would see if they never came for a cab it would be no use your standing there; but
51people don't always like to go to the bottom of things; it may not be convenient to do it; but if you Sunday drivers
52would all strike for a day of rest the thing would be done." "And what would all the good people do if they could not
53get to their favorite preachers?" said Larry. "'Tis not for me to lay down plans for other people," said Jerry, "but if
54they can't walk so far they can go to what is nearer; and if it should rain they can put on their mackintoshes as they
55do on a week-day. If a thing is right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will
56find a way. And that is as true for us cabmen as it is for the church-goers." 37 The Golden Rule Two or three weeks
57after this, as we came into the yard rather late in the evening, Polly came running across the road with the lantern
58(she always brought it to him if it was not very wet). "It has all come right, Jerry; Mrs. Briggs sent her servant this
59afternoon to ask you to take her out to-morrow at eleven o'clock. I said, 'Yes, I thought so, but we supposed she
60employed some one else now.'" "'Well,' said he, 'the real fact is, master was put out because Mr. Barker refused to come
61on Sundays, and he has been trying other cabs, but there's something wrong with them all; some drive too fast, and some
62too slow, and the mistress says there is not one of them so nice and clean as yours, and nothing will suit her but Mr.
63Barker's cab again.'" Polly was almost out of breath, and Jerry broke out into a merry laugh.
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